Several current trends are effecting the design of computer system products. One trend is that televisions and entertainment centers are increasingly being controlled by microprocessors. In other words, home televisions and entertainment centers are becoming more intelligent. Microprocessors are being placed in individual components and several different microprocessors in the different components are performing the same or similar functions. Another trend is that microprocessors are also becoming more affordable and more able to handle many different types of operations in parallel. The current trend is to avoid the duplication of functionality by applying a more powerful microprocessor to integrate the operations for the various home entertainment components. The prediction that the television and computer are essentially merging into one unit is now becoming a reality. One currently available system is a product available from Gateway 2000 called the Destination product.
Gateway 2000's Destination product is a multipurpose computer system provided with circuitry to control consumer electronics, such as a large monitor or television for group interaction and of text, graphics and video in a home entertainment environment. The circuitry provides audio and video tuning capability for display of received high quality video signals on the monitor without an intermediate conversion to a lower quality NTSC format. The circuitry decodes the received video signals and converts them to VGA format which provides images of higher quality than NTSC. The monitor is capable of directly displaying VGA signals, and is not required to have a television tuner circuit, remote control, or audio circuitry. This significantly reduces the cost of the monitor and improves the quality of display as opposed to typical large screen televisions which contain complex tuning circuitry.
In one embodiment of the Destination product from Gateway 2000, high quality video signals are received from satellites broadcasting digital video signals, digital cable signals and other wireless digital broadcasts. One example is direct broadcasting satellite "DBS" signals having a quality of video signal higher than that provided by NTSC broadcasts. The DBS signals are MPEG-compressed video, audio and data. The DBS signals are received by a video receiver circuit board which is compatible with a standard personal computer peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus and fits within the chassis of a personal computer. The video receiver cards have panel connectors for receiving coax cable from an antenna which directly receives the DBS signals. The card has functional blocks comprising a satellite tuner, digital demodulator, forward error correction, conditional access and decryption/demultiplexing. The demultiplexor provides the capability of receiving data packets which range from information on television programs being broadcast, to computer programs for downloading into computer memory.
The video receiver card outputs digital video, audio and data streams onto the peripheral component interconnect "PCI" bus where it can be accessed by the computer main processor for manipulation and storage. When stored in a personal computer memory, the program information may be organized in a commercially available database format. This permits the use of database functions to be applied to the data. Rather than being stuck viewing the program information as provided by the broadcaster, the data immediately becomes manipulable by database commands, allowing queries of program information. Searches are used to show programs having certain actors or subject matter, and even have programs meeting the query automatically recorded. One use entails a user designating a series to be recorded, and the database keeps track of what has been recorded or already viewed, avoiding duplicate recording, as well as providing easy access to the recorded programs. In general, by capturing data along with video and audio in a form which a personal computer can process, the possibilities for computer applications are endless. Interaction with movies, classrooms, other players of games such as golf and a host of other possibilities becomes clear.
One such possibility with a merged TV and computer system such as Gateway 2000's Destination product is that closed caption information provided in video signals can be captured, and stored in the database for searching. This provides the ability to instantly find current programming related to events that a user defines an interest in by searching the data base.
A video graphics adapter (VGA) card coupled to the PCI bus converts the digital data stream into VGA and video signals for display on the monitor. In addition to being a home entertainment system, a fully functional computer system forms the heart of the entertainment system. Instead of buying all the individual consumer electronics parts, such as a large screen television, settop box for receiving broadband video, audio amplifier/receiver, CD player, universal remote control, video game machine, answering machine and fax, and a personal computer as some consumers do today, they need only buy the Destination system from Gateway Several years ago remote control television sets outsold the non remote control television sets. Controlling televisions and now super intelligent televisions from the users couch or comfortable chair is no longer a trend. Remote control of such components is the now the norm. The Destination product from Gateway 2000 provides support for remote control of both the personal computer and the monitor functions. Both a handheld remote control, and a full function remote keyboard having standard television and video cassette recorder controls are provided. Both transmit key signals identifying the key pressed, as well as a signal identifying the source of the key signal. The key signals are preferably RF signals typically in the megahertz range, but can also be IR or other suitable form of radiation. RF signals have the advantage over infrared "IR" signals in that they are not interrupted by someone walking between the remote and the receiver. Light source interference and jamming of other IR receivers is minimized by using RF signals. It may also be used in a different room from the receiver.
The personal computer in the Destination product from Gateway 2000 contains suitable receiving circuitry, which provides indications of the keys being pressed, with the identity of the remote control device sending the signal. In one embodiment, an industry standard architecture (ISA) board or module is plugged into both the keyboard and mouse ports. Another bus, such as a serial, RS232 or microchannel bus may also be used. The board contains RF receiver circuitry which receives the RF signals, decodes them and routes them to the appropriate port for processing. A receiving module is programmed to distinguish between the sources of the remote control transmitted signals, and directs keystrokes to the keyboard port, and mouse movements to the mouse port. Thus as can be seen, the computer system and television merged with it can be completely controlled from the user's couch or comfortable chair.
The only reason a person has to get up from the couch or easy chair is to load a different floppy disk into a floppy or flexible disk drive, or to load a different CD into a CD ROM drive. This is somewhat inconvenient since all operations, with the exception of loading media, can be completely controlled from across a room. Getting up from the users comfortable chair to load a new CD or floppy is necessary since most mass storage devices are hardwired inside the computer system.